Morning Cereal

Start your day with inspirational quotes, followed by a fun journey through nostalgic facts from this day in history. Then, we dive into Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 
In Part 1, Chapter 2, we’ll explore Covey’s timeless advice on building authentic connections, the art of influence, and creating positive interactions in every area of life.
In This Episode:
  • Daily inspirational quotes to spark your motivation
  • Fun historical facts from this day in history
  • A dive into Part 1, Chapter 2 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
Whether you're a leader, communicator, or just someone looking to improve your relationships, this episode is packed with actionable insights.
Tune in now and let’s grow together!
Resources:
Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Powerful lessons in personal change. Free Press. 
 
All photo’s utilized in this video are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported by Wikimedia Commons license and are free to copy, distribute and transmit.  No photos have been altered.

What is Morning Cereal?

Good morning, and welcome to Morning Cereal!
Pull up a stool, grab your favorite cereal, and let’s kick-start your day with a spoonful of inspiration, nostalgia and personal growth. Join your host, Shaen Inglis, as he highlights the music, movies, and moments that made the 80s, 90s, and 2000s unforgettable—kind of like digging for toy at the bottom of the cereal box. Each episode, Shaen also reviews a chapter or so from top wellness books, offering practical insights to help you set a positive tone for your day. Start your mornings right—no cartoons required!

Follow and subscribe to the Morning Cereal podcast and visit our Life Happens, Live Balanced channel and our website at shaeninglis.com to check out and follow our other podcasts. You can also follow Shaen @ShaenInglis on Instagram, YouTube, etc. Feel free to share the Morning Cereal with someone who could use a little fun and motivation to start their day right.

Good morning.

And welcome to morning cereal

Okay, good morning and welcome to Monday.

And I hope the fourth

was with you yesterday.

That's a nod to Star Wars

if you didn't realize it.

But why look back?

Today is Cinco de Mayo,

which celebrates Mexico's victory

over the second French empire at the

Battle of Puebla in 1862.

So cheers, enjoy the

celebrations and the margaritas.

But back to Star Wars.

Today is revenge of the fifth day.

Now, I don't have time

to explain that to you

if you don't already get it.

But if you know, you know.

And we're gonna stick with

the Star Wars theme here, okay?

Our quote today is a

well-known movie quote

emphasizing the importance of commitment

and decisive action rather

than just making an attempt.

Today's quote is from Jedi Master Yoda.

He gave us the sage

advice to, "Do or do not.

There is no trying."

Wow, that Yoda, he is so wise.

And making a guest

appearance on Morning Serial?

What an honor.

Thanks, Yoda.

Well, today's news, facts,

and birthdays are for May 5th.

And we're gonna start way back in 1891,

when on this date, Music

Hall, which is now Carnegie Hall,

it opened up in New York City.

And Tchaikovsky was the guest conductor

of the New York Music Society of

Orchestra on that night.

Then we're only gonna move two years

up the timeline to

1893, when on this date,

that's when the Panic of

1893 caused a large crash

on the New York Stock Exchange.

I'd say we kind of know

that feeling these days.

Then in 1904, Cy Young, he

pitched the first perfect game

in quote unquote modern baseball

as the Boston Americans beat the

Philadelphia Athletics 3-0.

So two comments, not

sure that's super modern

and secondarily, if you're

watching this on YouTube,

I don't wanna say, you know,

but these baseball players

say they're such good athletes.

I mean, Cy Young, I'll

just leave that one alone

for right now.

So moving on, lastly, in 1921,

the perfume Chanel

number five was released

by fashion designer Coco Chanel.

And this scent is still available today,

and it's considered one of the world's

most iconic fragrances.

Well, happy birthday.

If your birthday is today,

you share a birthday

with singer Chris Brown.

He's 36 and singer Adele, she's 37.

And the number one song

on this date back in 1983

was "Beat It" by Michael Jackson.

Now, when we talk

about classic 80s songs,

this is a full stop classic.

And I actually find it

really hard to believe

that it came out in the early 80s.

1983 seems not that long

ago, but a long time ago.

But because this is

such a generational song,

I thought I might dive

into it just a little bit more

for perspective, okay?

"Beat It" was the

number one song 42 years ago,

which is hard to believe.

But 42 years before Michael's

song "Beat It" was number one,

the number one song was in 1941 was

"I'll Be Seeing You" by Frank Sinatra.

That was the same year as World War II,

the attack on Pearl Harbor.

And Mount Rushmore was

actually completed that same year.

Wow, talk about the sands of time.

Well, the music video was a huge hit

and it helped usher in the MTV era.

The song also had a bit of a bump

due to the fact that Eddie Van Halen,

who was huge at the time,

he played the guitar solo on "Beat It."

As you probably know, the

song won multiple Grammys

and it's one of the

best-selling songs of all time.

Okay, well, we're reading through

one of the

best-selling books of all time.

And it's Stephen R. Covey's

"The Seven Habits of

Highly Effective People."

And we're in Covey's second chapter

and we're gonna finish it today,

which is "The Seven Habits, An Overview."

And this is where

Covey has been discussing

how important and

influential habits are in our lives,

with the habits being

defined as the intersection

between knowledge, skill, and desire.

These habits, as we know,

are in a maturity continuum.

They consist of growing

from dependence to independence

to interdependence.

And these habits can be and should be

highly effective in your life

if you use them properly and you

implement them in your life,

but you have to remain

balanced with them, right?

We talked about the production

to production capability balance.

That's the balance

between the golden eggs

and the goose that lays them.

And recall, the goose is an asset

and Covey's talking about

maintaining these assets

that we have, right?

Physical assets,

financial assets, human assets.

So that's a quick summary of

probably the last couple weeks

that we've been getting

through this second chapter.

So today we're gonna

finish up part one of the book,

which is "Paradimes and Principles."

And we're gonna finish

up chapter two as well,

which is "The Seven

Principles, An Overview."

So in these final two

sub-chapters of chapter two,

Covey is pleading with the reader

to not approach this

book as just a good read

and then to put it back on the shelf.

So don't use it like a regular book,

just a read and then be done with it.

No, this book was written

and it's designed to, quote,

"Be a companion in the continual process

"of change and growth," end quote.

The habits in this book are incremental,

but they're not entirely linear, right?

Meaning you don't have to master a habit

before you can move on to the next one

and then move on to the next one.

But as you get better

and you start maturing

through the habits, you can

go back to previous habits,

right, to, quote, "Gain

deeper levels of understanding

"and implementation and

expand your knowledge,

"your skills and your

desires," end quote.

So while making your

way through this book,

Covey also suggests that you should

approach the material

as though you're going to teach it

or share it with someone else.

And in doing so, it will help you expand

your perspective of the material.

You'll gain a deeper understanding

and it'll also increase your motivation.

Here Covey quotes Marilyn

Ferguson, who said, quote,

"No one can persuade another to change.

"Each of us guards a gate of change

"to be opened from

the inside," end quote.

And Covey asks the reader to

open their gates for learning,

to understand and live his principles.

And in doing so, quote, "Your

growth will be evolutionary,

"but the net effect will be

revolutionary," end quote.

Here's an example.

The net effect of being open to change

in the first three habits will be, quote,

"Significantly increased self-confidence,

"knowing yourself in a

deeper, more meaningful way,

"your nature, your deepest values

"and your unique

contribution capacity," end quote.

And by living out Covey's principles,

your, quote, "Sense

of identity, integrity,

"control and inner

directedness will infuse you

"with both exhilaration and peace.

"You will define yourself from within

"rather than by people's opinions

"or by comparisons to others," end quote.

And lastly, if you open

yourself up to this journey,

Covey says you will,

quote, "Discover and unleash

"both the desire and the resources

"to heal and rebuild

important relationships

"that have deteriorated or even broken.

"And good relationships will improve.

"They'll become deeper and more solid,

"more creative, more

adventuresome," end quote.

So understand that

change and self-growth,

they take time and they require patience.

But Covey says, quote,

"Self-growth is tender.

"It's holy ground.

"There is no greater

investment," end quote.

Finally, Thomas Paine said, quote,

"That which we obtain took easily.

"We esteem too lightly.

"It is dearness only which gives

everything its value,"

end quote.

All right, starting part two tomorrow.

That's entitled Private Victory

and we jump headfirst

into our first habit.

So thanks for joining us today.

Have fun and be safe

celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

We'll see you back here

tomorrow and have a fantastic day.

Don't forget to follow and subscribe to

the Morning Serial

podcast on the One Life

Live It channel.

You can find more episodes and videos by

visiting our YouTube channel and the

website at seaningless

and at seaningless.com, where you can

also follow our other

podcast, the Mr. and Mrs.

Inglis podcast and the

Life Happens podcast.

In these other podcasts, we'll dive

deeper into everyday issues,

self-improvement and

well-being, business and finance, and we

welcome special guests too.

So join us.

It'll be a good time, I promise.

Thanks again for listening.

Have a fantastic day and

we'll see you tomorrow.